How to Create High-Value Ecommerce Emails Fast to Engage Your List

Last update date: August 11, 2016

Are you worried that your email subscribers wait for nothing more but discounts?

Wondering how you could increase their engagement and get them to purchase your products at a full price? Sending discounts is an easy way to bump your sales and generate a spike in revenue. It’s also the quickest way to create email newsletters. You just need to generate a coupon code and paste it in an email. I’m sure you already have a template for that.

But the trouble is, these emails have no personality and typically lead to a loss of subscriber interest over time. Lucky for you, in this post, I’ll show you how to prevent that. You’ll learn how to quickly create high-value email newsletters that keep your audience engaged, and allow you to promote products at full price. But first…

Why Engaging the Email List Should Be Your Most Important Marketing Activity

True:Every email audience differs. In general, however, you could assume that your newsletters go to two types of recipients:

People who only wait for coupons and discounts, and

Those who want content that provides them with value (and maybe some entertainment too).

Each group responds to a different marketing message. The first group tunes in only to those emails that include words like “deals”, “offer” or “discount”. Now, don’t get me wrong, the other group loves discounts too. However, these people are also willing to engage with your brand. Their values align with yours and as a result, they want to develop a deeper relationship with you. As Raymond Cheng points out in this article:“On TCS, for example, we found that readers who check out at least five articles in a given month are more than 70 percent likely to return to consume more content the following month.”And guess which group converts more often, at a higher rate, and with a bigger average order value? Subscribers who only seek discounts are more prone to switching brands, particularly if they offer them a better deal.

Engaged buyers, on the other hand, tend to spend more, buy more often, and pay you the full rate.According to Armando Roggio, just 8% of your site visitors account for 41% of your total online sales.(image source)

And needless to say, these are your most engaged subscribers. =So how do you create high-value email newsletters that can engage the audience without including discount codes?= Here are a couple of ideas:

#1. Notify Your Audience of Every New Content You Publish

Most companies exhibit a flawed way of thinking about their audience’s interaction with content. They assume that the majority of their subscribers will visit their site, and in turn, discover their new content.Unfortunately, nothing’s further from the truth. Even if someone signed up to your list through the blog, that doesn’t mean they’ll come back to it to check if you published anything new. They’re too busy for that.

If you want your audience to read your latest blog post, infographic, tutorial or a customer success story, you need to tell them about it.

And so, every time you publish new content, create a new email campaign notifying your audience about it. Most email providers like Mailchimp, Aweber or ActiveCampaign, include an option to set an automated RSS campaign that will pull out your latest content from the RSS feed and send it to a specific list.(Email campaign types in ActiveCampaign)

Personally, I prefer to create a custom campaign for each email and personalize the message to ensure my audience finds it interesting. But automating the process works too.(Preview of Wisepops’ most recent content blast.)

The internet is full of interesting stories, news, and trending topics your audience surely wants to know about. And while many of your subscribers will find a lot of this information on their own – be it through blogs they follow, updates on social media, and general word of mouth – some might still overlook interesting stories and developments.

And that’s your opportunity to create engaging emails quickly, without even having to write more content.

Here’s how to do it:

Set up Google Alerts for any news and topics that relate to your customers’ interests or your industry. You can set multiple alerts for various keywords or topics (i.e. industry name, product’s category, industry celebrities, etc. )

Every time something interesting pops up, copy that page’s URL, and create a quick email campaign to notify your audience about it. TIP: You don’t even have to write a lengthy email. A simple message like: “Hey I wanted to make you aware of this [article, news story, etc.] in case you missed it” would suffice.

Of course, you should employ common sense when using this strategy. If you target hot news, then consider compiling various stories on the subject into one email to avoid stuffing your subscribers’ inboxes with too many messages. Similarly, use segmentation to send relevant messages that apply to these specific subscribers.

#3. Send Regular Tips and Advice

Audience of a home and décor store might crave new ideas to organize and decorate their homes. A kitchen supplies store would naturally attract people who love to cook. And these people would never say no to a new recipe or a cooking tip. And just as email gives you an incredible opportunity to connect with your audience, and build trust, it also allows you to help them at the same time. Use the newsletter as a way to educate your audience, and help them overcome whatever challenges they have relating to your product.

#4. Curate Relevant Content

Your audience craves advice, information, and entertainment. But naturally, you’re not able to provide all of it by yourself. Luckily, the Internet is full of relevant information that could help them overcome their challenges or simply provide a way to detach themselves from their everyday hustle (depending on what products you sell, of course). Curating content is another way to quickly create engaging email newsletters. Here’s how to do it:

Then, add those sources to an RSS reader. For convenience, I use a Mac/OSX app called Reeder, but even a free Feedly account would do.

(Reeder)

(Feedly)

With that setup, you’ll receive regular updates every time a site you follow publishes new content.

From then on, all it takes is to pick those posts you think your audience would appreciate the most, compile them into a list, adding a short blurb to each item, and send as an email campaign.

Serious Eats, for example, sends their subscribers a weekly curated list of recipes. And I’m sure it takes them hardly any time to curate this content. But the value they offer their audience is immeasurable.